Lambert leads CMA noms; Combs’ streak continues
NASHVILLE, TENN. » Country star Miranda Lambert turns her “Wildcard” into an ace as she’s the leading nominee at the 2020 Country Music Association Awards, including her first entertainer of the year nomination in five years.
The CMAs announced Tuesday that Lambert earned seven nominations. The Grammy winner was pushed by the success of songs like “Bluebird,” her first country airplay No. 1 in years, as well as positive reviews of her smart and sassy “Wildcard” album.
She’s followed by Luke Combs, who continues his streak of success as one of country music’s biggest streaming artists with six nominations, including his first for entertainer of the year. Combs earned his first all-genre No. 1 album last year with “What You See Is What You Get,” which had the largest streaming week ever for a country album with 74 million on-demand streams.
The CMA Awards are normally held in November in Nashville, although details on this year’s awards show have not yet been released.
Dan + Shay’s Dan Smyers has six nominations, including four he shares with bandmate Shay Mooney and three with pop star Justin Bieber for their crossover hit “10,000 Hours.” Smyers earned individual nominations for his work as a producer on the song. These are the first CMA nominations for Bieber, who won a CMT Music Award in 2011 for “That Should Be Me” with Rascal Flatts.
Carrie Underwood joins Lambert and Combs in the entertainer of the year category, along with Keith Urban and Eric Church. Garth Brooks, who won last year, recently announced he no longer wanted to be nominated for entertainer of the year because it was time for others to win.
Other top nominees include Maren Morris, who scored five nominations including song and single of the year for her love song, “The Bones.” Her track became the longest-running No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot country songs chart by a solo female artist since Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Getting Back Together.”
Producer Jay Joyce also earned five nominations for his work on albums by Lambert and Ashley McBryde, who earned three nominations including album of the year and female vocalist of the year.
After years of criticism for the lack of women on country radio, women actually outnumber men in the new artist category, with Carly Pearce, Gabby Barrett and Ingrid Andress getting nominations.